Classroom Q and A

What is the current role of a 21st century school counselor and how can teachers best work with counselors for the benefit of students. Follow: @larryferlazzo @mindywillard17 @bamradionetwork Leticia Gallardo has been a counselor for Luther Burbank High School for six years and has worked with a very broad range of students. Mindy Willard is a Professional School Counselor at a K-8 school in Glendale, Arizona. She is the President-Elect of the Arizona School Counselor's Association and 2013 American School Counselor of the Year.

What makes a great teacher’s aide or paraprofessional and how can we work more with them more effectively during remote teaching?
Follow on Twitter: @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork @MicheleTMorgan1 @ritaplatt
Michele Morgan works for Granite School District in Salt Lake City, UT, where she was a resource teacher for 12 years. She currently works as the District New Teacher Specialist for Elementary Special Education. In 2013 she earned her National Board Certification as an Exceptional Needs Specialist, and in 2015 she earned the Excel Teacher Award. Rita Platt is the author of Working Hard, Working Happy: Cultivating a Climate of Effort and Joy in the Classroom and is a principal in the St. Croix Falls, SD in Wisconsin.

Inspiring students to read is always a priority in education. How can we maintain our commitment to supporting reading while teaching online?
Follow on Twitter: @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork @jenorr @MrsSaid17
Sarah Said has spent years overseeing ELL programming in schools in Illinois. In addition to her current role as a Director of Language and Equity programs, she is also a contributor for ELL Confianza. She is also a course writer for English Learner portal. Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez is a National Board Certified fifth-grade teacher in the Folsom Cordova School District. She was a participant in the Teaching American History Grant, Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Summer Institute, and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. Jennifer Orr is a kindergarten teacher in a Title 1 school in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Previously she has taught 5th, 4th, and 1st graders, as well as her own two daughters.
Margo Gottlieb, Ph.D., is co-founder and lead developer for WIDA at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin- Madison. She has devoted her professional career to the education of multilingual learners, having published extensively and presented worldwide; her latest books include Assessing English language learners: Bridges to equity, Assessing multilingual learners: A month-by-month guide (2017, ASCD), and Language power: Key uses for accessing content. Kristin Spears is an ESOL coach and teacher in Spartanburg, South Carolina District 6 where she helps plan and conduct ESOL professional development and collaborates with elementary teachers on how to best serve ELs in their classrooms. In her teaching career, she has worked in various upstate SC schools with students in grades K-8. Becky Corr is an English Language Development Team Lead for Douglas County School District in Colorado. In her role with DCSD as well as the owner of EdSpark Consulting, she provides coaching, professional development, and family engagement opportunities.

Many teachers have now been engaged in remote learning from three to six weeks. What have we learned so far? What, if anything, would we do differently?
Follow on Twitter: @elvisepps @MrsLeonENL @ashlm_12 @barberchicago @ @larryferlazzo @Ashley McCall serves as a 3rd grade bilingual English/Language Arts teacher at César Chávez Multicultural Arts Center on the southwest side of Chicago and serves as a teacher representative on the Chávez Local School Council. She works to incorporate social justice/civic engagement experiences and elevate student voice throughout the year as evidenced by her students’ recent culminating activism unit project “Say it Loud/Dilo Fuerte” which seeks to rewrite students’ neighborhood narrative. Lorie Barber is a 5th-grade teacher in Illinois and a National Board Certification candidate. She works through an anti-oppressive lens and believes in getting high quality, relatable books into the hands of all of her students. Dr. Elvis Epps serves as the Principal at Lake Worth Community High School in the School District of Palm Beach. He has been a teacher, assistant principal, and principal for more than 28 years. He is a veteran of the US Navy. In addition to leading his school, he has been a presenter and speaker at state and national conferences on school leadership and organizational leadership. Claudia Leon is a middle school ENL (English as a New Language) and ELA teacher in Bay Shore, New York. Her students are about 90% Hispanic and 10% South Asian. During her 1st year of teaching, Mrs. Leon took a teacher training class at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art).

The data is clear, movement supports learning. Yet, "sit-and-get" teaching and learning continue to dominate our traditional and virtual classrooms.
Follow on Twitter: @ValentinaESL @JennyVo15 @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork
Valentina Gonzalez is a Professional Development Specialist for ELLs in Katy, Texas and taught multiple grades as well as serving K-5 as an ESL specialty teacher and district program facilitator. Jenny Vo has spent all her 23 years in education working with English Learners and currently serves as an ESL ISST in Katy ISD in Katy, Texas.